More Instruments for the kids are On their Way!

I get a call from Gordon Solerberg who is the founder of Vets for Green Jobs http://veteransgreenjobs.org/ and he told me he had a friend who was going down to the Gulf Coast and he could stop by to pick up the instruments. So he gave me Jim Selin’s number and I called him. Jim is someone who I met down in Slidell, La. And what he does is the same thing we do but he collects books for the schools. It is called; Books To Kids is an outgrowth of hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief providing quality literature to build life skills in literacy and to provide fun and entertaining literature for students and their families

So as time has come along we have been collecting more musical instruments for the schools in the Gulf Coast. Even though in these times of having so little money we feel we want to continue our mission. We have always said that if we could tap into all the instruments that are sitting in someone’s closet how many would that be? I can’t tell you how many times I have been doing a gig ad tell this story over the mike and someone comes over during my break and says something, “funny you said that, I have an instrument sitting around doing nothing. Can you use it?” This is how it goes and now we have a pile of them ready to go.

So far we have: 2 Clarinets

1 Alto Sax

2 Flutes

3 Trumpets

9 Trombones

2 Guitars

1 casio piano

So now we will have given 220 instruments sense our first trip down to the Gulf Coast, one student at a time, one instrument at a time.

Here is hoping everyone out there is enjoying the spring!

Still Pickin’

Bill Hudson

Al Coffey

http://www.dragonfly.com/ is sending entertainers to the devastated areas in Louisiana and Mississippi

R. J. And the Fiddle

Al here¦ sometimes we have more than one thing going on. One night Bill was working on one project while Greg and I pursued another. At what we thought was the end of the day, we went to Mel & Vinnie’s place, thinking we’d kick back after the day’s work, maybe pick a few tunes and call it a night However, after a snack and a little story swapping, there’s a phone call. It’s R. J. Storm, and he’s got a violin for us but we have to come get it right then. He’s swamped with work, and will not have any other opportunity to get it to us.
We had met R. J. a couple of nights before, and he’d told us he might have something to donate. Here’s the thing; R. J. is not only a banjo player and singer; he’s also an instrument maker! (He made the banjo folk musician Pete Seeger currently plays.) Since Greg and I were both unfamiliar with the area, Mel and Vinnie volunteered to drive us over. We all piled into their van and off we went.
Watching a luthier at work was a rare treat for me. Though I play fiddle, I didn’t realize a lot of what’s involved in their constructions just observing R. J., I learned a lot about how to adjust and care for my own instrument. R. J. is somewhat of a human whirlwind. He was carrying on two or three room, conversations at once, hollering directions and requests for parts to people in the next room. Evaluating the tones of different violins being played myself or others, and shaping pegs, carving and hand fitting a bridge, and adjusting the sound post of the fiddle he was giving us, all at the same time! (In his spare time he’s an acupuncturist!) With his medical practice, how he finds time to do all he does escapes. Then again, like I said, he’s sort of a human tornado. After going through some surprise aggravations with the fiddle, he was finally satisfied that it was properly set up to give some student a solid instrument to learn on. Being a perfectionist, he wanted it to be just right, and wouldn’t settle for less. I can honestly say, it’s going to make some kid a great way to start. Thank you so much R.J.
After saying our goodbyes, with assurances from R. J. and friends that they’ll try to find more stuff for us, we finally headed back to Mel and Vinnie’s to crash so we could be up again first thing in the morning to meet Bill and dive into the next round Until we figure out how to fit two weeks into one, I guess we’ll continue to celebrate sleep deprivation and chaos! Onward through the fatigue!
Still Pickin'
Al Coffey
Greg Greenstein

1,700 miles and Almost Made it Home

Ok, it was getting late and we were driving down 81South. Having come from the radio station in New York we wanted to make a strait run to Va. We were close to Lexington, Va., maybe 60 miles away from home base. Suddenly, we smelled something out of the motor. Greg was driving and said he was having a hard time steering, here we go again. So we stopped at a gas station and sure enough, the belt had come off because the power steering pulley had just snapped off from metal fatigue. Great, now what? We were all beat and this was not something we needed at this time. Luckily Greg had AAA and he made the phone call and we waited. I looked at Al and smiled and said something like, “here we are again”. At least it was not raining and we were at a gas station, bad food, and weak coffee and an attendant waiting to take our money. Al told him what happened to us and he had that far distance look like he has heard it all before and what did we want to buy? Down time and Greg was on the cell phone and walking around pissed off, understandable in such a circumstance.

We settled down to wait for the tow truck……

After about an hour Wayne’s towing service shows up and he got the jeep on the truck and we got in the cab. As we rode down the road the driver asked us where we came from and we told him what we were doing in New York. The more we told him the more he wanted to know. So during the hour or so it took getting home we told him the whole Feel Good Tour story. He asked for a card and we gave him one and who knows, he might have an instrument. We got home via tow truck but we made it back. Pulling into Greg’s front yard I can only think what Greg’s wife was thinking. Well we made it back and we collected more instruments, 3 guitars, one clarinet, one trumpet, one trombone, one violin and set down the seeds for the next trip to New York. Was it worth the trip? Al and I talked about it and we both agreed that yes it was and when can we go again?

Still Pickin’

Bill Hudson

Al Coffey

Greg Greenstein

Guthrie Center-Stockbridge, Mass.

As we roll in to a very nice looking white church we get our axes very quickly and we walk in the main door to sign up. For those who do not know what the Guthrie Center is it is place Arlo Guthrie bought a few years ago. If you see the film Alice’s Restaurant which is sparely director by Arthur Penn, you can see the church in the film. It’s a great film to see and captures the time back then. So, the Guthrie Center is a concert place and county center. The walls in the foyer are covered with older posters of Arlo and many other artists who have played at the center. There is coffee or tea or sodas to drink and a great looking kitchen. That’s the one place I really love about this place, the kitchen. Nicely lay out in a very long narrow section of the church with everything one might need in a commercial kitchen. George runs the place and right away makes you feel right at home. We give him a few of our Feel Good Tour info and he lays it on the table so others that come by might pick one up.

This is an open mike so other musicians are there to play their 3 tunes. A lot of Guitars and a few banjos and some songwriters that is very good. One was Bill Buttner www.myspace.com/billbuttner and he had a very cool tune called, You Don’t know Nothin’ About Me, damn good tune.

As the time rolls around and it goes ever so quickly, Al and I do a set we hand out some info and it’s time to hit the road because we have a early radio interview to do the next day. We thank George again and told him we will be back if we are in the area again and off we go into the night.

Still Pickin’

Bill Hudson

Al Coffey

Greg Greenstein

Chili at Guy's Place

After all these years now of doing this, Al has never met Guy Nouri. So, during our time up in New York we wanted to put aside some time to go to Guy’s place and sit down and talk about where we want to go. The weather in New York has been nice and cool, so the drive up North to where he lives was a nice pleasant fall day kind of drive. One cool thing about where Guy lives is that the Guthrie Center is only about 30 minutes away from his place, and we had planned to go to their open mic night to spread our message. Guy called me and told me he would be late, so he just told us to make ourselves at home. We did just that as we rolled in, late in the afternoon. His place has great view of the surrounding mountains and valley.

After a while Guy arrived, and when he came in and said his hellos he looked over at Al pecking away at a blog entry and thought “Oh, that’s just Al”. It took him a moment or so to realize they had never actually met face to face. Then after all this time Guy and Al finally met, and they were like old friends from different lifetimes. There was not much time to get to the Guthrie Center, and Guy said we should have something to eat. “How about chili?”, Guy says, and we all nod in hungry approval. So Guy does some cooking while I get some files out and share them with Guy in the kitchen. He has a nice sundeck facing a great view so we set the table outside. Files, chili, and blogging as the clock was ticking away, we were running low on time. As Guy finished preparing some real five alarm chili he yelled out,” Come and get it” and he passed out the large platefuls of rice and chili. We ate a fast dinner and then stated to pack up so we all could head to the Guthrie Center, http://www.guthriecenter.org/

Guy knew where to go, so we followed him through the mountains and back roads of the Berkshires to Stockbridge, Mass. Fall will be coming soon and we could see it in the trees and it made us wonder how much snow they get around here.

Still Pickin’

Bill Hudson

Al Coffey

Greg Greenstein

http://www.dragonfly.com/ is sending entertainers to the devastated areas in Louisiana and Mississippi

WTBQ 's Hootenanny Café Interview

Our last day in New York was with Jon Stein’s radio show called Hootenanny Café. It was taped and will be on this Sunday night at 8PM EST, http://www.wtbq.com/index.asp and can be listened to online.

Getting to the station early was the key, and after a few twists and turns and a little backtracking we actually managed to get there on time. Al brought in his ax and harmonicas and I brought my guitar. We set up very quickly, things started rolling, and before you knew it the hour was over. To end the show, Al did his song http://video.yahoo.com/watch/2424905/7520237

“Mr. Politician, can you tell me why?” which folks in these parts seem to really enjoy as do I. It always gets a good laugh but gets the message through. After the show we talked a bit with Jon. He too has been on the Clearwater when he was younger so we all have the same friends. All the while Greg is pointing to his watch that it is time to go. (He took over Al’s job of keeping me on time for this trip.) So we hit the road to back to VA, and the adventure continued, as you’ll see in the next installment of “The Feel Good Tour”, or “the Continuing Misadventures of Bill & Al.”

Still Pickin’

Bill Hudson

Al Coffey

Greg Greenstein

http://www.dragonfly.com/ is sending entertainers to the devastated areas in Louisiana and Mississippi

96 hours and more instruments

After getting in at 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning, once we came back to the land of the coherent, we made it to another Hudson Valley party where you eat great food, play some tunes with other folks, and meet a bunch of really nice people. Guitars, mandolins, fiddle, banjos, and potato salad are a good combination with kids running around and food laced with music. The one thing I just love is the female singers who happen to come to these kinds of parties. They all know each other and know all the same tunes. Their harmonies are wonderful. If there is a piece of heaven on Earth, I think I am in one.

The sole reason why we are here in New York is to collect musical instruments, and it sounds like we have a few to start off with. The bass player Christopher Sullivan called me up and said he had a clarinet, a trombone, and a trumpet for us, so today we are heading off to meet him. Chris had a busy day and so did we, but towards the end of the day we could catch up with him in Beacon, NY. We ended up meeting Chris at a Coffee place, and we all sat down to have a drink and talk about what we are doing down in the Gulf. Chris was a very cool guy and the funny thing was, we could not figure out where we met each other, in what state or club. It happens that I have a pile of cards on my desk, and I wondered “Who is this?” I sometimes call folks and say,” Hello who is this?”

We had a Clearwater http://www.clearwater.org/category/latest-news/ meeting to go to which is held once a year in Beacon, New York at the new home for the Clearwater main office. At the base of a very nice sloping hill nestled between some old pine trees is the” Whitehouse” (as some like to call it), now the main Office.

It was by late morning a fall kind of day when we got there, and in a beautiful field at an old settlement camp, there were many old buildings and a very large tent where everyone was listening to young musicians singing their hearts out. With such a large crowd, this was a good place to get the word around. Add some food on a very nice fall day, and it makes it nice to have a meeting with food, music, and trying to keep the Hudson clean.

Many thanks to Mel & Vinnie for putting us up, (and for putting up with us).They have been with us on The Feel Good Tour, and thanks also to Danny Ibender and Sue Altkin.

More to come very soon.

Still Pickin'

Bill Hudson

Al Coffey

Greg Greenstein

http://www.dragonfly.com/ is sending entertainers to the devastated areas in Louisiana and Mississippi